Swimming
by Stigmatized
Summary: Developments in KaixRei over some water. Yaoi, mature content.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Swimming

Author: Stigmatized

Rating: M for language

Warnings: Yaoi and half nakedness.

Pairing: KaixRei

Summary: Kai goes for a night-time swim but finds Rei already there. There's some awkwardness.

Notes: This had been sitting half finished in my big folder of unfinished Beyblade fics for over two years, and suddenly in the last few days I've whipped it out and finished it. Ain't ya proud?

* * *

As he walked towards the pool, towel slung over his shoulder, he saw a tall, slim figure diving into the water. Kai sighed, although no-one was around to hear him in the still night air. He opened the gate and walked in, and saw Rei looking up at him from the water.

"I'm not the only one who thinks like this, then?" His words were jocular, but Kai could tell that he was straining to sound casual. To sound like he couldn't remember any of last night, like it hadn't happened. And Kai couldn't say he was disappointed by that.

"I guess not," He replied, putting his towel down on a sun bed. He dived into the water and when he reached the surface again he saw that Rei was out of the pool, making his way over to the deserted bar. He decided not to worry about it, and swam a few lengths, and was conscious of Rei watching him. He got out of the pool after a few minutes and sat down beside Rei. "What were you doing in there, anyway?" He asked, trying to break the crushing silence. "I thought you guys didn't like water." Rei give him a withering look.

"Just because I can look catlike doesn't mean I am one, Kai." Kai nodded and looked away from him.

The silence seemed to stretch on forever. It was strained, and Kai was willing to bet that if this meeting had happened before last night they wouldn't be having this problem.

"What the hell was that kiss about, Kai?" The question came so suddenly that it took Kai a while to think up an excuse.

"I was drunk. I don't know what came over me." The words were cool, obviously meant to stop any reply. Rei knew better than that.

"Bullshit." Kai looked back over at him and saw that hard stare, the narrowed eyes of a man who knows the truth.

"Why do you say that?" Kai looked back with cool eyes, but Rei didn't soften.

"Because I know you. You don't do that when you're drunk- start fights, maybe, but you don't kiss." Kai looked away, knowing he was defeated. "You hurt me, Kai." Rei's words were softer, then, and Kai didn't dare to look back. "You _know_ I like you, you knew I would fret about it, but you did it anyway. Don't tell me you were drunk, Kai. You didn't have a drink all night. Do _not_ lie to me, Hiwitari." Kai shut his eyes for a moment, trying to collect himself before turning to face Rei.

"Okay. I wasn't drunk, but I felt like kissing you. So I did." Rei shook his head.

"Nothing more than a spur-of-the-moment thing, then?" Kai nodded. Rei snorted. "Don't make me laugh. Tell me that I don't mean anything to you. Tell me, and I'll let it go." Kai stared at him for a few moments and looked away. "I knew it."

"You don't know a damn thing." Kai looked back at him, glaring him in the face. Rei kept his gaze.

"Prove me wrong. Give me one little shred of proof."

Kai felt as if the air were pressing him through the paving slabs, and he was regretting the kiss, regretting kissing Rei and running away with his tail between his legs. And now, when he was faced with the man he could do nothing but sit in strained silence until one of them had had enough. He couldn't believe how much of a coward he was being. And then, "Coward," as if Rei were reading his thoughts, startling him out of his daze.

Suddenly Rei's face was in front of his and he was being kissed. Not kissed like he had kissed last night, not a short, sharp peck on the lips, but a real kiss. His hand was on Rei's wet, naked chest and Rei's hands were in his hair and his tongue was in his mouth, and he was kissing Rei back, putting his arms around Rei's neck and pulling him closer, plundering the treasure he had been denying himself for so long. He heard a whimper, but wasn't sure if it came from himself or Rei.

"Tell me that didn't mean anything to you." Rei was whispering in his ear, his hot breath sending shivers down Kai's spine. "Tell me." Kai found that his mouth was moving, but no words were coming out.

"I can't." He managed to whisper, his hands digging into Rei's shoulders and pulling him closer. Then he let go, pushing the man away and picking up his towel. "Why don't you quit being so fucking selfish, Rei?"

"I'm the selfish one now, am I?" The fury in the words was barely hidden. "I'm not the one who kisses people out of the blue and runs away like a spurned puppy before they can even react!" The words were all but spat out at Kai's retreating back. "Did you even stop to think what I'd have done if you'd stayed?" Softer now, but still a hint of venom. Kai looked back over his shoulder at Rei, not sure if those were tears in his eyes or merely water from the pool. "So tell me, how am I selfish? You kiss me and run away. Did you not even-"

"I was scared, Rei! Just drop it already, please!" He found himself snapping the words out, only meeting Rei's gaze for a split second before turning to watch the moonlight play over the still pool.

"Kai," he sighed, standing up and turning around to face the bar, cradling his head in his hands, "I don't even know what to think about you anymore." Kai looked at him and noticed the hunched back and the tense shoulders, the tremor in his voice not evading him, either. "This keeps happening. I keep thinking I know you, and then you go and do something like this and it just throws everything completely out of whack, and I have to totally re-evaluate everything I thought I knew, and it's driving me _mad_!

"What am I supposed to do? For fuck's sake, Kai, I love you and you damn well know it, but you keep... I don't even know what you keep doing! You make me think that you might just feel the same way and then you go and do something that makes me think you couldn't care less." He was staring at him, now. Eyes angry and determined and full of tears. Kai closed his eyes and tipped his head back, hands on his hips, and when he opened them again his vision was full of stars.

"What am I supposed to do, Rei?" He looked back over to see the back of Rei's head shake.

"Fuck, I don't know." The energy had left his voice, leaving him sounding tired and drained as his rubbed his eyes. "Just tell me. Let me know if I'd be better off just forgetting the idea that we might just get somewhere."

"Is it not obvious?"

"Apparently not! For God's sake, you kiss me and run away, then shout at me for being confused about it! If you were scared why did you do it?"

"Because I needed to!" His eyes were trapped by Rei's own; he couldn't look away during the silence, and Rei didn't seem like he was about to talk so they stayed like that, just staring at each other for god knows how long. "You," he was taken aback as his voice broke. He swallowed and closed his eyes, at last breaking away from Rei's gaze and focusing on a spot above and just to the left of Rei's head. "You were laughing and smiling and just so fucking gorgeous, Rei. That woman was looking at you _like that_ and I just couldn't stand it any more." His eyes were stinging as he looked back at Rei, suddenly closer and smiling. He blinked hard and looked away as long arms, deceptively strong, enveloped him and a face pressed to his neck. After a moment Rei pulled back and took Kai's face in his hands and held him there, looking into each others eyes as a smile spread, slowly, over his face, golden eyes creasing at the edges.

"Thank you." He all but whispered before pressing his lips against Kai's softly, his mouth not quite closed.

End


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Felt this deserved an (incredibly short, slightly cheesy) pseudo-conclusion. I say pseudo-conclusion, because nothing is really concluded. This is the first new Beyblade fic I've written for about two years, so forgive me if it's a little rusty.

* * *

Rei wasn't sure what he had expected to change after that night- after the awkward confessions that they had both bottled up for so long.

He knew, of course, that they wouldn't suddenly be holding hands and going on dates- that wasn't Kai and therefore it wasn't what he wanted from Kai. The trouble was he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted.

He knew, anyway, that he wanted (and rather enjoyed) the kisses that came at night in either his own or Kai's room while everyone else was so busy getting ready for bed and setting things up for the next morning to worry about where they had gone.

He knew he wanted Kai's hands on him everywhere at once- in his hair, on his face, over his chest, grabbing his waist, his ass (he had stopped blushing at that), running up and down his back underneath his shirt and, that one time that had made Rei jump back in surprise, down his trousers.

Hell, it wasn't even just his hands he wanted. He wanted every inch of bare skin Kai possessed touching his own- lips and chests and arms and bellies and cocks and legs and backs. He had waited long enough, after all.

He especially liked the kisses that came during the day- just a fleeting press of lips behind a wall or a tree or in an empty room.

What he didn't want, though, was for Kai to change. He knew, not even subconsciously, that he wouldn't. Wouldn't suddenly start spouting sweet nothings and giggling. That was silly. Rei didn't want declarations of love or roses and chocolates, he wasn't a girl, after all, and it would make them both feel awkward.

Rei wasn't sure he wanted anything more than he already had. Kai was Kai, he always would be. Without that certain coldness (Rei hesitated to call it even that), without staying that one step removed, he wouldn't be. Those private smiles and kisses and touches didn't infringe on that, somehow, neither did Kai opening up to him almost imperceptibly slowly. Rei liked it that way, had liked it that way even before that night by a hotel pool when he had felt hot with anger and confusion and had just let the words burst from his mouth.

Rei wasn't even sure what Kai wanted from _him_. This thing was so new and bewildering- if he couldn't even figure out what he himself wanted and needed, how was he supposed to read Kai? How was he even supposed to figure what the rest of the team would think of it?

There were too many things to think about, too many emotions and too big a future. He would make do with what he had just now; make do with the kisses and touches and whispered conversations. If he felt he wanted something more, he would ask. If Kai shot him down, so be it. He would recover.

But for now, he would take this one step at a time, and hope that Kai was marching to the same rhythm.

End.


End file.
